What to do with Colorful Yarn!

canoemtndesigns
Mar 14
4 min read

Have you ever seen some really pretty colorful yarn and bought it because it spoke to you? Or you just loved the colors?

Before I go any further I should probably mention that with all of my blog posts..... it's my opinion only. I don't get any payment from any yarn company that gets mentioned.

I have often purchase yarn because of the color ..... but found out quickly that it is hard to design anything with colorful yarn. When I start thinking about a design, it's all about what the texture will be. Will I use fpdc/bpdc (front post double crochet/back post double crochet), stitches that cross over, or maybe something that is lacy. Well, variegated and some self striping yarns make it hard to see the stitches. I find this quite annoying...... lol

Let's take this fun chunky yarn for an example: Bernat Symphony (80% Acrylic, 20% Wool, 309 yards / 282 meters, 7.9 ounces / 225 grams)

(click on photos for pattern links)

When I saw the yarn online it looked so pretty :) I don't usually buy chunky yarn (#5 weight), but the colors were calling me. Over the last couple of years I have also noticed that bulky yarn is getting thinner, so I figured it would be about what I thought a worsted weight yarn should be. And it was.

It took a lot of trial and error to figure out a stitch pattern or stitch combination that would work with the self striping yarn. I can't remember how many times I unravelled and tried again. But once the first size was done I was happy with how the pattern showed the colors and the stitch pattern.

There are quite a few cotton or cotton blend yarns that only come in self striping colors. I love bags and designing bags. So that's what I usually do with the cotton yarns. No one wants a boring bag :) Here are two examples:

Last winter one of the sites I order from had some Caron Baby Cakes (100% Acrylic, 231 yards / 211 meters, 3.5 ounces / 100 grams). I had 5 skeins of each color. Again, I liked the way it looked in the skein, but once I had it in my hands, wasn't sure what I would create with it. I looked at it on and off for probably 6 months before I decided what it would be. I hadn't designed anything for small babies in a while. I send a lot of my baby blankets to Project Linus, but they want them to be at least 30" across. So preemie size wasn't going to be large enough. After some research on blanket sizes I decided on "Security Blankets" and cocoons. The cocoons came first, then whatever was left from each color became blankets. I also wanted the designs to be unisex, which can make it a bit more difficult.

Oh! Not all brands have the same color striping apparently. Love Crafts had this yarn on sale last winter: Paintbox Yarns Chunky Pots (100 % Acrylic, 297.5 yards / 272 meters, 7 ounces / 200 grams)

I did the peachy blanket first and was thrilled with the way the colors worked together. Then I started the blue one and was SO disappointed. What was I going to do with these short colors. Took me forever to find a sort of boring stitch pattern that would work. If one color has nice color changes, why wouldn't they do it with the other colors?

The peach colored one is on Ravelry, the other one will be a free pattern on the website later this year (still has to finish being tested).

Have you guessed yet that teal is one of my favorite colors? No? You may by the end of this year lol.

No - these are not the same yarn. Not even the same company! The shawl in the first photo uses 2 skeins of Sidar Jewelspun Aran (100% Acrylic, 546 yards / 500 meters, 200 grams). The shawl in the 2nd photo uses 5 skeins of YARNSMITHS Freespirit Aran (100 % Acrylic, 202 yards / 185 meters, 3.5 ounces / 100 grams) Color: Adonis (1D015) 4-5 Skeins.

These 2 patterns will also be released later this year. Both yarns are lovely and very nice to crochet with.

The yarns were ordered at 2 different times, from 2 different companies while I was camping in Texas last winter. They were sent to my house, so I didn't realize that the colors were that close until I got home in April and opened the packages. Surprise! I like Teals lol. Both yarns are lovely, but again a bit hard to design with because of the colorways. I have more of each brand in different colors waiting for me to create something.

There are so many other self striping yarns that I've used and some that are waiting for a project. I still love all the colors and the way some of them change throughout the skein, but I'm starting to think that a solid color is easier to design with.

Do you have a favorite variegated or self striping yarn? If you have a favorite project using either of those colorways feel free to share them in my FB GROUP. Make sure you mention if you post that it's in response to my blog post about colorful yarn :)

Thank you for reading my post! Happy Crocheting!